Convoy With NATO Supplies Is Attacked in Pakistan

By Ismail Khan

March 4, 2014

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Gunmen in the Khyber tribal region in Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan, opened fire Tuesday on a two-truck convoy carrying NATO supplies, killing one driver and wounding two others, a government official said.

The official said the attack occurred about 25 miles northwest of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. A “search operation has been launched to find the culprits,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

The attack came only days after the governing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, led by Imran Khan, announced that it would end a blockade of NATO supplies after a court ruling declared it to be illegal. Mr. Khan’s party imposed the blockade to protest American drone strikes in the tribal region, saying they were killing more innocent people than militants.

The attack also came days after Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella organization representing Pakistani militant groups, announced that it would observe a monthlong cease-fire to allow government-proposed peace talks to start.

The announcement, however, was followed by a spate of bombings, including one on Monday in the district court complex in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, that left 11 people dead and over two dozen wounded.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has denied involvement in the violence. A relatively new group, Ahrar-ul-Hind, said it was behind the attack. Ahrar said that it was fighting for the enforcement of Shariah in Pakistan and that peace talks were not the way to do it.